Search - Anat Cohen :: Place and Time

A counterbalance

Stuart Garber | Brooklyn, NYC | 05/11/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"To be honest - I haven't heard this whole album - just the lengthy clips on the amazon listening station. But I was curious, having read strong notices in May 2007 in the New York Times - and her stuff is lovely - AND the one-star screed posted by the other reviewer is so far off base that I needed to post a counter-balance to that wrier's one-star notice, which has much more to do with his (?) personal biases than this music. This is fine contemporary jazz with heart, soul, wit, chops and verve."

She's A Star

Earscape | NYC | 05/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been reading a lot about Ms. Cohen. She seems to have been making some history recently: she is the only female horn player (and the only Israeli) ever to headline at the Village Vanguard. She is the only person ever to get citations in 5 categories in the annual Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll (2007). She is the only woman ever chosen as "Up and coming jazz musician" of the year by the global Jazz Journalists Association...and the only person ever to get the aformentioned nod and win a best instrumentalist category (clarinet in her case). Then...there are feature articles about her in places like the Washington Post. She's playing at the Newport Jazz festival this year. All the foregoing struck me as a lot of smoke...for there not to be any fire. So I bought her three albums as a leader and the Waverly Seven (of which she is a member) album "YO! BOBBY". Now.. I understand the kudos. She is an extraordinary musician. She has a warm, solid tone on all 5 of her instruments. Her improvising is extraordinarily creative yet artfully restrained....as opposed to what I hear from the legions of Brecker, Potter, Coltrane would be clones out there. Her original compositions have something to say. I love her taste in cover tunes. I get it."

Wonderful, musical, effortless playing

S. Woods | 02/13/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I heard about Anat Cohen in Fred Kaplan's "Jazz Messenger" music blog at http://blog.stereophile.com/fredkaplan/. Subsequently I looked up Cohen on Youtube and fell in love with her musicianship, tone, and style. One of those great players that manages to stand out and impress by being totally integrated with her band. And the band seems top notch -- always a good sign. Great talent.



The playing: beautiful and invisibly perfect phrasing, tone, and a total sense of the music. Her work on the clarinet is not to be missed."